As the play-off winners, Italy will take position “EQ3” in Pool D of theRLWC2017 draw and will play matches in Cairns, Townsville and Canberra.

The 22-man Azzurri squad for the recent European qualifiers featured a number of players who are currently attached to North Queensland-based teams including Joel Riethmuller, Kieran Quabba, Ryan Ghietti, Col Wilkie, Justin Castellaro and Brenden Santi. Central Queensland's Gavin Hiscox also featured in the Italy squad.

Castellaro and Wilkie each scored twice after the halftime break to boost Italy's impressive score.

The team have been led by former Raiders’ great, Terry Campese – so should receive strong support during next year’s tournament.